7 Jobs Where Women Out-earn Men

On the surface, women appear to earn less than men -- some estimates say as little as 80 cents on the dollar. But when we look at the data more carefully, we see that this isn't a universal truth for all women and all jobs. In fact, in some jobs, for a variety of reasons, women tend to out-earn men.

May 31, 2013

On the surface, women appear to earn less than men — some estimates say as little as 80 cents on the dollar. But when we look at the data more carefully, we see that this isn’t a universal truth for all women and all jobs. In fact, in some jobs, for a variety of reasons, women tend to out-earn men.

But first, where did the idea of the gender wage gap come from?

“Women earn less than men on average because they often fill jobs with a large societal benefit, but small monetary benefit,” said Katie Bardaro, lead economist for PayScale. “Instead of focusing the debate on the misbegotten gender wage gap, we should instead examine why women are absent from high-paying jobs and industries, like technology, engineering and executive positions.”

In fact, when we look at certain job titles, the pay gap tends to diminish; in some cases, it tips in the other direction. When those numbers are controlled for outside factors like years of experience, management responsibilities, and company size, women out-earn men.

Do You Know What You're Worth?

Here are seven jobs where women make more than men, once all other factors are considered: